Haunted House to benefit little heroes
Published 12:00 am Thursday, November 2, 2006
By Adam Hammer, staff writer
GENEVA &8212; There&8217;s a house on Fourth Place in Geneva that is reported to be haunted.
A year ago, visitors to the home, owned by Tina Hagen and her family, left screaming and scared. This year will likely be a repeat.
Hagen set up the haunted house just for fun last year and it was a success, so this year she&8217;s doing it again. But this time she has a mission.
&8220;We must have done a good job, because they wanted us to do it again,&8221; Hagen said.
This time around, she is asking for freewill donations with all profits going to benefit Hearts of Heroes. Hearts of Heroes is a support group for families and their children who were born with congenital heart defects.
Hagen&8217;s daughter Brittni, 16, was born with a congenital heart defect called tetralogy of fallot
and had her third surgery in June because of it.
Hagen said she was glad to find Hearts of Heroes for support through the process.
&8220;She&8217;s fine, she can play sports,&8221; Hagen said. &8220;But it wears on your. They know what I&8217;m going through.&8221;
The group meets in on the last Tuesday of every month at the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester.
Proceeds from the haunted house will go towards care packages for children to have following their surgeries and towards support for their families.
Hagen&8217;s spook house will be set up in her garage and took about a week to construct, she said. It was privately funded and built by family and friends with her husband James doing most of the construction. Geneva Liquors supplied some props.
The path leads visitors on a maze through black rooms, some with flashing strobe lights, with caskets, mummies and monsters. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to get through, she said.
&8220;The backyard is wooded so a little of it goes into the woods too,&8221; Hagen said.
She suggested visitors be middle-schoolers through adults.
&8220;We scared ninth-graders last year and they were really scared,&8221; she said.
Hagen said she has enjoyed putting the haunted house together and hopes to continue the tradition.
&8220;We&8217;ll see what it brings this year and try to keep it going,&8221; she said.